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Skagit County dairy worker pleads guilty to workers compensation fraud

Skagit County dairy worker pleads guilty to workers compensation fraud

Photo: Saga Communications


SKAGIT COUNTY, WA (MyBellinghamNow.com) – A Skagit County dairy worker has pleaded guilty to taking over $100,000 in workers’ compensation.

My Bellingham Now previously reported on a warrant for the man’s arrest in March of this year.

The dairy worker, identified as 58-year-old Efrain Alatorre Camarena, plead guilty on Sept. 17 in Skagit County Superior Court.

The state department of Labor and Industries (L&I) said Alatorre was injured on the job in 2006.

Alatorre collected benefits off and on for several years following the injury to his neck and back, however the allegations of fraud apply to the last few years of that time.

An L&I investigation found that Alatorre had been working at another dairy for at least three and a half years without telling the department.

The Skagit County Superior Court judge presiding over the case ordered Alatorre to repay L&I over $140,000 and sentenced him to 160 hours of community service and two-year probation

L&I said that Alatorre has begun to repay the stolen funds.

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